Beyond the Glow

Chapter 22

"Wake up!" Justine's voice rings in my ears, and I clutch the covers of the bed tighter. 

"Go away." 

"No! Open your eyes!" Justines voice raises an octave, making me wince. 

I crack my eyes open a slight bit, trying to keep my expression as grumpy as I could. "What Justine?" I grumble seeing her trying to pull the covers back. 

But behind her is a whole different question. 

Behind Justine, the items in the room are floating, and each one with a sharp end is pointed at her, and all the objects glow a slight golden color. My eyes widen in terror, and I can tell they aren't just behind Justine by the way her eyes dart back in forth in front of her. But as soon as I feel a scream creeping up in my throat, the objects drop, all of them hitting to floor at once. 

"What was that?" I whisper, although I think I have a pretty good idea. I can see the glow coming off my skin disappearing as I speak. 

"I- You!" Justine splutters. "When I tried to wake you up they just started doing that," She paused, placing a hand on her chest trying to calm her rapid breaths. "When I signed up for this job, I did not sign up expecting to have my life threatened every day. Not by a genie, and definitely not by that good for nothing Prince." She turned, pacing towards the panel in the wall. Life threats?

"You can tell him that I quit." She said, and was gone. 

I sat in the bed, still reeling from what just happened. My magic had been... Out of control. I knew it would happen, but not like this. It seemed to react to my emotions, and not in a good way. My mere annoyance at Justine getting me up when I was low on sleep made the magic nearly murder her. 

Definitely not a good way to start the day. 

I got up shakily, and went into the bathroom, brushing my hair and taking a look at myself in the mirror. There were dark circles under my eyes, but other than that, there was nothing alarming about me.

I walk back out into the room, confused about what I should do next. Justine was sent here to get me ready for the day, so I assume there's something on my agenda. I might as well get dressed, and finish brushing my hair. The hairbrush seems much more likeable now that I am the one holding it, but after awhile it gets stuck in what feels more like a ball of unyielding hair than a knot. 

Turns out Justine was being gentle when she brushed it after all. I sigh, and pull at it impatiently. Eventually, I just give up and head into the closet. The sight dismays me. 

I had previously been wearing modified dresses I made changes to when Justine left after dressing me for the day. Unless Tran arrived while she was still here, such as yesterday, I was normally able to change the terrible designs. But now, without my lamp, I guess I'll have to try something else. 

I grimace before reaching into the closet and pulling out something I deemed to have the least amount of bows and ribbons, holding it at arms length before I set it on the bed and search my vanity. 

My ransack of the vanity leaves the thing a mess, but I turn up with a pair of shears anyways. If only I'd found a needle, but as it was I guess having no decoration was better than the suffocating amount on the dress right now. Holding the shears triumphantly, I advance on the dress and begin to snip off the offending bows one by one. 

When I'm done, the dress isn't nearly as suffocating as before, but it's not looking too good either. Oh well, it works. I pull the dress over my head, struggling to do the clasps by myself. I had just begun on my hair again when a knock sounded at the door.